Film Archives

I’ve mentioned my ancestor (Leslie) Hay SIMPSON, who played the role of Ned Kelly in the 1934 film of When the Kellys Rode and then was lost at sea in 1937, soon after making the film Mystery Island on Lord Howe Island. The National Film & Sound Archive has many audiovisuals at http://aso.gov.au, including clips from Mystery Island. Hay Simpson can be seen in http://aso.gov.au/titles/features/mystery-island/clip2/ (he’s the drunk with the bottle).

Have a look at the offerings on the Australian Screen website. Try entering a town or suburb name of interest, and see if there is historic film footage available. Think about the significant events in which ancestors might have been involved, and even if you can’t identify an ancestor, such historic footage gives you an opportunity to see things through their eyes – and isn’t that one of our goals of family history research?

Dear Kerry, we have a few photographs you may be interested in of the cast of Mystery Island departing Sydney. We think this photograph may be of Leslie Hay Simpson (second from right).
Would you be able to confirm this?

[…] to the magazine, no hint was given as to what those reasons were. Abbot and Desmond Hay (real name Leslie Hay Simpson), set off from Lord Howe Island in the 16-foot motor launch Mystery Star on 6 October 1936. The […]

Simply want to say your article is as astonishing. The clearness in your submit is simply cool and that i can assume you are knowledgeable in this subject. Fine along with your permission allow me to grab your feed to stay up to date with imminent post. Thank you a million and please keep up the rewarding work.